So I have brought a new and innovative product to the market.
Or maybe you’ve found a way to give an existing service a new twist, and it’s gained popularity.
You are now promoting your popular product or service with Google Ads.
For a while, you’ve been dominating the paid search marketing space.
But eventually, others see your success and develop their own product or service to claim a piece of the market.
Now, you find yourself competing with these Google Ads newbies.
What can you do to fend off these competitors – without breaking any legal, moral or ethical rules?
Here are seven legitimate ways to fend off new competitors in Google Ads.
1. Constant monitoring of competitor trends
You can’t fend off competitors if you don’t know they are out there. This means that you must constantly monitor Google’s ad space for competition.
In some cases, you can spot competitors through Google Ads impression metricssuch as losing absolute ad impression share and its highest impression share.
In other cases, you will find evidence of competitors through Google ads Auction Insights.
Auction Indicators allow you to compare your performance with other advertisers participating in the same auctions, with statistics such as impression share and overlap rate.
In fact, we sometimes import data from Google Ads auction statistics into data studio on a daily basis for analysis. We prefer doing this within Data Studio rather than in Google Ads because it makes it easier to analyze and present the data to customers.
Other competitor analysis tools, such as Semrush, can help you determine when competitors have increased their advertising budgets.
2. Look for weaknesses and opportunities
Once you’ve identified your competitors, look for opportunities to beat them.
For example, if a competitor is new to the market, they may not have the budget to run ads 24/7. Look for time windows when the advertisement is not taking place and make sure you are.
If the competitor decides not to advertise on weekends or evenings, try scheduling some campaigns for those times.
3. Wait for them outside
Your revenue may suffer when a new competitor enters the market.
As a result, you may be tempted to cut back on your budget — or turn off Google Ads ads altogether — because you’re not seeing the same returns as you did before.
But more often than not, that revenue will bounce back if you stay on track. You have to be patient.
For example, some advertisers will start with a large launch budget that dwindles quickly. As their budget dwindles, so will your proceeds again.
Other competitors will realize how tough the market is and will stop advertising. They’ll go back to the drawing board and once again, your revenue can rebound.
If you stay steadfast, you may be able to outlast competitors.
Another reason not to turn off your ads in the face of reduced revenue: Google rewards consistent advertisers.
Experience has shown us that when you turn off your Google Ads campaigns (especially those using automatic bid strategies), you may find much higher CPCs when you restart your campaigns.
For example, one of our previous clients was going from a monthly budget of $50,000 to zero every few months. Every time we reinstated his campaigns, the CPC jumped from $100 to $200 and then $300.
Keep your advertising going in the face of tough competition, even if you have to cut back.
Then, do what you can to optimize your spending while you wait.
4. Don’t spread yourself too thin
When you have little competition, it is tempting to advertise in every market you serve.
But if you spread yourself out too thinly, you leave yourself vulnerable to competitors when they enter the market.
Therefore, we recommend having at least $5,000 a month to spend if you’re advertising nationally in the US, and that should give you enough horsepower to compete with newcomers.
If $5,000 is out of reach, narrow your ads to your best-performing states or cities rather than panning across the country.
5. Qualify your clicks
If the plan is to wait for your competitors to succeed in the long run, you need to make sure that every click counts to help increase your budget.
If you are getting a lot of clicks but few buyers, this may be a sign that your competitors are under-pricing you.
But if your product is better than theirs, you can justify your higher price.
So, put that pricing in your ads. It will help you qualify visitors before they click – and increase your budget.
At the same time, draw on your messaging to explain how and why your product is better than the competitor’s (see next point).
6. Flaunt your merits
As mentioned above, you want to clearly differentiate yourself from the competition, especially if you’re at a higher price point.
Use your advertising messages to communicate these different factors and contextualize your price.
You can also use your messages to emphasize the benefits of real time, even if it is temporary.
For example, if you work in an industry that is experiencing supply chain issues—and you have items in stock—you could communicate: “In stock and ready to ship!”
On the flip side, if you don’t have inventory, you can test out something creative like, “Big discounts for December 2021 shipping dates.”
7. Have a solid post-click strategy
As you implement these strategies, also make sure you have a solid post-click strategy in place.
If your landing page doesn’t quite align with your ads, it will undermine everything that came before.
You can face the competition
When you have a hot product or service, new competitors will always appear on the scene.
But you don’t have to go through the competition lying down.
Instead, put paid search advertising to work and fight!
More resources:
- 7 tips from the experts to boost your PPC performance today
- 7 proven ways to improve PPC campaign performance
- PPC 101: A Complete Guide to the Basics of PPC Marketing
Featured image: Zenzen/Shutterstock
